WHY I AM VOTING FOR Ike Relief

Because at some point the little guys and gals are going to have to take over and start making smart, real time, fiscally responsible decisions. Not only in relief efforts, but in all other aspects of our economy and government as well.

WUBA Hurricane Ike Relief Effort

Ike Relief Update 10-6-08

Afternoon all, the push to continue to keep supplies rolling to the Gulf Coast continues. This morning we shipped out three sets of packages with medical supplies and some cleaning supplies. The first set of two boxes went to the Bridge City Fire Department. It contained burn kits, bandages, first aid kits, Neosoprin, an air splint and more. The second set of boxes went to Eagle Heights Fellowship in Baytown. This is a shelter being run by a local pastor and seems to be one of the few shelters in this area that will remain open for the next four to six weeks. The supplies in these three boxes included CPR kits, first aid kits, disinfectant wipes, gloves, and more. The third set of three boxes were shipped to EmmyRose which she will personally deliver to the San Leon/Baycliff area. They included many of the same items listed above. We have estimated the value of these seven boxes to be between $4000 and $5000 which we shipped for just under $350.

We are also continuing to work with several corporations in order to procure donated goods which have been specifically requested by Chambers, Harris, and Orange Counties. Will continue to update on those efforts after we have solid commitments from each. Over 5,000 square feet of warehouse space has also been donated to us in Atlanta; which will serve as a centrally located distribution point. This will allow us to have corporate donated goods sent to a central location from which they can then be kitted and transported to various distribution points and shelters. A trucker and truck which will pick up and deliver goods for the cost of fuel. With all of this going on we are also entering the next phase of or our push to make Portlight a sustainable entity that will be able to facilitate the needs of the under served, unserved, and forgotten people for years to come. In order to help support this mindset we are beginning a monthly donor program. There will be more on this in the next few days as well as progress on getting supplies in hands; please consider what you may be able to give on a monthly basis. Thanks!

More supplies on the way...

9-27-08 UpdateWe have now sent four trucks to several areas in Texas including Bridge City, Winnie, and Anahauc. The supplies that have already been delivered include food, drinks, and many other necessities. We have also delivered supplies to the disabilities community in Houston and League City. Thanks to presslord, Rainman32, Nlimbo, Pat, and Icepilot for following through on the deliveries of supplies. Also a big thanks to FLDART1 and Will for providing myself and presslord's wife with an essential escort that allowed us to gain access to normally un-accessible areas as well as putting us in contact with the correct people in the correct communities. Thanks to Emmy and code for the accommodations and food which also helped us conserve travel expenses.

Now a little about my personal experience from being in the area. Many of you may have seen the picture I posted of the Bridge City FD crew looking at my laptop and using my air card. If you have not seen it I suggest you view it and read the caption. Needless to say, this was one of the more emotional experiences of the journey for me. Some of the other things that really spoke to me were the folks in Bridge City talk about how they felt "forgotten" compared to the Houston/Galveston area. Chambers County now has a central distribution center that is delivering supplies to the local distribution centers in Anahuac, Winnie, Oak Island, and soon High Island. Along with working with the Bridge City distribution center we will also be working to get supplies to the centralized distribution center in Chambers County.

Portlight is currently working on meeting some of the needs that were gained through all of our efforts; but we are also working to make sure we get these supplies to the area in the most efficient area. That said, driving truck halfway across the country is not the most effective means to do this. By working with freight lines and utilizing delivery options from the likes of Lowes, Walmart, and other companies we intend to find the most efficient way to meet the needs of the impacted areas. Ensuring that we operate efficiently is critical to making a dollar go as far as it can. At this point we have raised just over $25,000 and we have spent just over $13,000 getting the first four trucks in to the area. These four trucks have delivered between $150,000 and $200,000 worth of supplies. The intent is to continue to pursue and implement this kind of cost effectiveness in all of our efforts.

We are currently working to get more supplies tot he area and will continue to do this as long as the funding is there. We also hope to pursue a toy drive for the kids at Christmas time, but we will update more on this later as we are concentrating on the immediate needs right now.

Thank you all for the support, and more importantly then any one of us, the folks of Texas send their heart felt thanks. Please continue to contribute as you can and also know that we are working on a monthly donor plan in order to continue to provide relief and support to the "forgotten people".

PREVIOUS ENTRY...

As most of you know, several WU members are currently working to assist the folks that have been impacted by Hurricane Ike. The goal of this project are to provide assistance and supplies to the folks that are off the beaten path that often do not get the same relief as the mainstream areas. There are many ways to donate and help the folks in Tx and La, and however you feel is appropriate; please help out. If not through this effort, then through many of the others.

Presslord has been kind enough to use a charity that he has run for over 10 years as the face of this effort. The name of the organization is Portlight Strategies, Inc. You can currently donate by check and PayPal. If you send checks, the faster they can get to Portlight the better as we plan to be on the road by the end of the week. All checks should be made payable to:

Portlight Stratagies will be in charge of all funds, and make sure that the supplies and monies get in the hands of those that need it most. They are also working with several entities in South Carolina to raise additional funds.

Here is more on this organization

Portlight Strategies, Inc., a 501c3 nonprofit tax exempt organization founded in 1997 for the purpose of providing medical equipment and other services primarily to people with disabilities. This was also the host organization for the Spirit of ADA Torch relay which visited 24 cities in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. All funds will be transparently accounted for in a separate dedicated account and posted on Pat's blog and are a matter of public record through the organizations IRS Form 990 which can be reviewed at Charity Navigator or the IRS. For the last 6 years over 90% of all donated funds to this group have gone to direct program services. This can be verified at the South Carolina Secretary of State website: www.scsos.com...click Public Charities and then charity search....enter Portlight

This arrangement serves several purposes:

-all contributions will be tax deductible as allowed by federal law-all accounting is public record-No one will have a personal tax liability on the funds-checks and balances on accountability for all monies received...-affiliation with a national nonprofit with a proven track record of credibility

Thanks, and please remember it does not matter how you choose to help as long as you help in some fashion.

Truck 1 with medical equipment for the disabilities community and specifically Emmy!

Truck 2 has been delivered to Bridge City and Winnie; truck three plans under way now! Can't really figure out why anyone would want to see PRESS IN A DRESS; but if it gets the third truck to these areas on time, then I don't care why!!!

Pics from truck 2

The ladies of the Charleston Disabilities Resource Center and the best of the best of the Live 5 News Crew! Thanks to both for their assistance!

presslord! What an outstanding gen....ummm...man!

These picture don't even really do justice to what all is on the truck, as well as the things you can; see we have...

Over a hundred bottles of Bug sprayHand SanitizerBaby powderPalmer's Butter BottomLED Flash LightsDog & Cat FoodPowerAideand I am sure there is some other stuff I have forgotten

With a little help, StormJunkie.com is pleased to announce the advent of 3d-LIIVID™ radar. This product utilizes Level II WSR-88D radar data to produce three dimensional views of storms. Please stop by and check out a 3d-LIIVID isosurface loop from Dolly making landfall. A look through the user manual and the FAQ will give you a better understanding of what 3d-LIIVID is, and how it works. We have also just added several new overlays including a 45dbz isosurface, county lines, and US highways.

As always, we really look forward to hearing everyone's feedback as it will help us to continue to improve 3d-LIIVID.

The beginning of the help video index can now be found on StormJunkie.com. Currently there are series on The spaghetti models, the FSU Experimental Forecast page, and the QuickSCAT page. Look for more video series in the near future as well as some other neat additions to the site coming soon.

The intent for StormJunkie.com is to provide access to some of the best tropical and weather tracking information on the web. As hobbyists we truly appreciate the value of the wealth of information available on the internet. We are still in the process of learning how to read and interpret the wealth of maps and data available. That said; part of the learning process is to find the many sites out there, learn to navigate them, and then get a basic understanding of the information provided. Hopefully this site can help speed that process up. In conjunction with wanting fast easy access to these links from any computer, the site was also designed to foster a learning environment. Links and information on models, marine data, wind data, imagery, weather learning, and much more can be found here. Make sure you check out the Wilma videos provided by weatherboyfsu and CyberWolf.I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all of the folks that have used the site, helped with the site, or offered suggestions. That said, this site is meant to be useful to all. If there is anything that you feel is missing or could be improved upon, please let me know!

After dropping some supplies at the Bridge City Fire Department, we chatted with the fireman for a little while. One brought up Bolivar. I asked if they really wanted to see the pictures. I sat, and brought up "The short but eventful life of Ike" pictures. As I started to show them the pictures I realized that I could not do it. Showing the pictures, for the first time, to the men and women who have years of family vacation memories was just too much and it was not my place. They are going to have to deal with this as a community for a long time to come. It takes a lot to make me cry.

The town of Bridge City was inundated with a massive storm surge even though it was far displaced from Ike's landfall point. This speaks to just how massive Ike was. The people of Bridge City, Winnie, and other small towns in Ike's path will need help for a long time to come. www.portlight.org

The town of Bridge City was inundated with a massive storm surge even though it was far displaced from Ike's landfall point. This speaks to just how massive Ike was. The people of Bridge City, Winnie, and other small towns in Ike's path will need help for a long time to come. www.portlight.org

The town of Bridge City was inundated with a massive storm surge even though it was far displaced from Ike's landfall point. This speaks to just how massive Ike was. The people of Bridge City, Winnie, and other small towns in Ike's path will need help for a long time to come. www.portlight.org

Went to San Leon todayand O! were they ever appreciativeof the goods especially the santizinghandwipes - those were picked upas soon as I placed them on the tables!

Jim - the logistics man there is a resident of San Leon and losteverything - BUT HIS SENSE OF HUMOR.

"I lost everything ~ but I'm a single manI had no wife to clean up after me - I just guess Mother Nature did the job"

He went to tell me that in spite of the loss,his family - what there's left of - is aliveand that means they can rebuild.Pointing to the piles of debris thatstill dress the street for as far as the eye can see he said,

"What you see here is what is left ofBolivar - we collected her history.We can't forget Bolivar".

Heart breaking story from Bolivar.Am waiting to get into Tent City in GalvestonThey are closing that I believe on the 26th of October and the brilliant one, Lyda Ann,thinks FEMA will cough up 500 trailers.They brought up a whoppin 14 to Bridge City.Mayor asked for 400.

Thanks Emmy, we also just got this from the Eagle Heights Fellowship which also got three boxes of supplies.Just got medical supplies yesterday. THANKS SO MUCH! They are already being put to good use.

Just a quick thought from ground zero. I got on the Bolivar Penisula yesterday to take one of the people in our shelter to meet a FEMA inspector. You still need a driver's license with an address down there to get past the roadblocks to get in. We had been asked by some of our county officials to take some MRE's down there since we were going. Come to find out, there are people down there with little to nothing to eat. We delivered a truckload of MRE's to local workers, water and sanitation workers, etc., who live there and are trying to get things going. They are not getting any supplies or hot meals. One of the guys down there told me there are a few hundred people in Crystal Beach who are working and are having to scrounge for supplies to have enough to eat. He said they would take a collection among themselves and someone would drive to Winnie and try to get enough for a couple of days.

These guys are working constantly and are getting worn down quickly. It's been a month and it looks like the storm came through yesterday. I've got pics if anyone wants them. We are trying to figure out some ways to at least get a hot meal to those guys, at least occasionally. Don't know if there is anything you guys can do to help this, but I thought I'd let you know and see what happens.

SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPSOH MAN PAUL - YOU DO WORKWONDERS WILL WE HEAR FROM THE GREAT ONE?LOL

I just wanted to express my sincere gratitude, on behalf of the City of Houston, the Mayor, and our community partners over at TIRR/Memorial Hermann, for all of your involvement in bringing medical supplies and equipment together to help Texans with disabilities affected by Hurricane Ike. I can't tell you how much we all appreciate the fact that you so quickly mobilized and leveraged such a tremendous amount of support to bring these needed items to Houston and other Texas cities.

An email simply doesn't do justice to the generous spirit and initiative that you, Paul Timmons, and your partners took to make this happen, nor to our gratitude. However, I just want you to know that we think about you all in appreciation every single day over here, and there are many who are directly benefiting from your generosity.

By the way, Paul Timmons mentioned that it looks like another shipment of 30-50 wheelchairs can be sent over here. All I can say is wow! Thank you for not forgetting about us, and for realizing that we still have a lot of needs here that we are trying to meet - even 4 weeks after the hurricane.

Again, please accept my sincere thanks. I hope that you have a wonderfulweekend!

Michelle Colvard, MPHExecutive DirectorMayor's Office for People with Disabilities

I told them the story and they were blown away.This truck is out of Houston. They havent been to my area since Ike. They asked of those in Galveston - and surrounding areas.

20 minutes they left - after I told them the WHOLE story....................

they were touched.

I will take this soon - my little bay newspaper wants to doa story on portlight - I've emailed Paul.I want to show them these boxes, etc.Dont worry I will make sure ALL get in the paper. Print press is alot more on the ballwith facts................you can SEE what they write.....LMAO

We contacted a sock manufacturer/distributor and they informed us they would donate somewhere between 6 boxes and 6 pallets of socks. Kudos to them. The interesting part of this story and why they were so willing to help this effort was that during Katrina they donated socks to the Red Cross....The Red Cross returned the socks to them...Geezzz...

Again, not bashing all arms of the RC, but while some arms perform very well it seems others can not tell if they are scratching their head or their ...

Emmy, while it may seem slow right now; we are making some great progress and will have more supplies out their soon. Making the calls and getting the corporate goods donations is the tedious part of the process, but oh so crucial to being effective.

BEAUMONT - The sight of houses strewn on the roadway and the animal carcasses that surrounded them overwhelmed 23-year-old Belen Sanchez-Ortiz, a Port Bolivar native.

The mother of four and her husband, Alfredo Ortiz, had returned to check on their home after the evacuation order for the Port Bolivar area was lifted on Sept. 26. They found a "disaster zone."

"I am numb. I am still in shock. We were driving to get to our house and we almost ran over a house that was just lying on the road. It was horrible, like something out of a movie. I couldn't recognize anything," Sanchez-Ortiz said.

Their home, a recently remodeled trailer, was gone. All that remained was a cement water tank and bits of scattered debris.

All the sentimental tokens and pictures of their former lives - forgotten during the rush to escape the rising waters - had been washed away by the storm.

"We weren't expecting the hurricane. We thought it was just going to be a little bit of rain and wind, and the weather channels and the news didn't let us know until the last second," Sanchez-Ortiz said.

"We lost everything."

With a few belongings packed hurriedly before the storm, the family decided to drive to Beaumont and stay with some relatives to repair their lives.

The Ortiz family members are among many people displaced after the arrival of Hurricane Ike who now are living in the Beaumont area.

Many evacuees from the Port Bolivar, High Island and Galveston areas are temporary pilgrims who plan to go back to their original cities of residence, and a few - like the Ortizes - are tentatively planning to recreate their lives in a new city.

I'm so glad to see that you're helping people in San Leon! We got torn up pretty badly here in Seabrook, especially east of Hwy 146, but I think it's even worse there, with fewer resources to pull together. Bless you for all your work!

Just a quick update. We are still busy working with corporate sponsors to secure goods and donations. We have quite a few balls in the air and although not all will pan out; some will. Unfortunately nothing happens rapidly in the corporate world. That said, we are pushing hard to make things happen faster then normal.

Will provide an update in the next day or so. We will also be getting an update from Emmy and Bridge City on the supplies that were shipped on Monday. They should be there by the end of the week.

As soon as we have an idea of what all we have and get stocked at the Atlanta Warehouse we will update on the potential to have some folks come up and help us sort and kit. Great idea for those that suggested it. Thanks!!!

If you are buying (rather than getting donated) medical supplies, be aware that you can get generic equivalents for Neosporin (not "Neosoprin") etc. for significantly less. To take an extreme example, Betadine was going for around $17 when Shoppers Food Warehouse was selling their generic for around $2.30!By the way, clicking on "portlight.org" on the Midget Marco Makes Landfall page isn't working as of 2:30PM EDT.

Took the goods Ima gave me inSan Antonio back to San Leon today.To say the least it still is inbad shape.Met a woman (pictured) who losteverything - see the way shehas the world of burden on her shoulders?

tkeith, I see we won one yesterday. Have not had time to watch anything except for the Ga game this year, but I will make sure I take time to watch the "orange crush". Not sure why, it is never a good time of year for us. That said, if we lost all of our other games and won those three (Ten, Fl, Clemson) then it would make the season for us.

cajtx, our thoughts are with all of you out there and rest assured we are doing as much as we possibly can for those areas.

Will keep all updated on Jr as time gets closer.

Taking the rest of the day off to continue the quality time with the family. First weekend in sometime I have been able to devote to them.

I have enjoyed the wundergound site for years but am especially grateful for it right now. You see, before Ike, I taught in Galveston and called Crystal Beach home. All that Ike left me was a few posts. Now to even get to my where my house once stood I have to go through checkpoints in Winnie and High Island. When I realized that this group was was one of them sending help it made me smile. It will take us a long time to rebuild our community but with people like you supporting us it will be possible. Thank you.

Very cool, though I must admit I really envy the journalism degree. Shoot, wish I had a camera over here with me! I'm on his front porch and because of my issues with light sensitivity, I can't stand to be on the laptop w/out a cap on, and that was the one I had by the door. lol It's not a pretty picture but it's funny that it happens to be that one I've been wearing (he has literally dozens and dozens out). When I first grabbed it, I thought it was Giants or something, not paying much attention. Don't go thinkin' "ding-bat female" (though I readily admit and accept that), you can ask TampaSpin about me and some sports - just not much of a college sports girl unless it's TX, TX A&M, or one of a few others ;) Still trying to decide between a nap & going to the gun club to watch UT/CO with old men who are my new friends. LMBO Hubby working today in prep for deploying to Houston for sure this week -- guess it's good I made new friends, ones who can shoot. LMBO

Quoting presslord:tkeith....they should be ashamed to show uo anywhere after last week...

rainman....well said....

Yes, stickin' my nose in where it doesn't belong but have to ask - you talkin' about GA Bulldogs by any chance? I was at the shooting range and realized that the ball cap I'd grabbed from neighbor's house was a GA Bulldog cap. Mind you, everything at the gun club is burnt orange and white except the large handicap shooting set-up they have (which is pretty cool to have for a very rural place and not an ADA thing, either) which they have decorated w/a Texas A&M theme. LMBO Anyway, I figure the only reason I wasn't shot is 'cause I was the only woman there that hasn't hit menopause who'll dish out as much b.s. as the ol' guys'll throw at me. lol

ANYWAY... as usual, Ima has to go 40 miles to walk 1...might be a great selling point for me when I'm hittin' up the neighbor when he returns from latest trip - Press, you a Bulldog fan?? Ken, the retired general/good friend/neighbor/great guy, e-mailed us last night and said, "maybe we/I can do some fundraising when I get back", after I'd mentioned Portlight to him!

From Doc's blog below.. as a member of the WUBA Ike Relief advisory board I can tell you that I am as unhappy as anyone about the necessity of this, but also can say it is only very temporary that these funds are held up.. they will go directly to the relief as intended and Paul won't stop hearing from me personally until every last penny has for that matter!

Quoting presslord:rest assured, we are working to expedite the necessary clearances to free these escrowed funds expeditiously so that they can soon be expended toward our ongoing efforts....

briefly.....in the heat of last weekend's chaos, some very serious threats were made....it's NOT a "Legal Defense Fund"...it's simply escrowed until our counsel gives us the "All Clear" that we are not in any residual peril....seems prudent to me.....

There's another mention on Dr M's update this morning that the $9000 is in escrow for a "legal defense fund". My understanding is that it's in escrow as recommended by legal counsel but not for the purposes of legal defense, is that right?

It came up yesterday on the main blog and again this morning (see post 20). Can you provide some clarification there?